The Beauty of Sleep.

Good afternoon guys!

Hope you had a lovely week and a good start to September! This is my birthday month...I will soon be 24 which doesn't feel like much of a difference for me. However I have some lovely things planned this month that I have to look forward to. 😁

Today's post is going to be about sleep. I don't know about you, but I absolutely love sleeping. It's so peaceful and can make you feel so refreshed, and isn't it just the best getting into a bed with freshly washed bed sheets?!

The importance of beauty sleep ⇊

Sleeping is vital for our well-being but it is often overlooked. We often feel that in order to get everything done or in order to make the most of your day you should sleep less so you have more hours in the day. However being sleep deprived will really impact on your mental state and will interfere with all those activities you have planned to do. There are so many studies on sleep and why we need it, here are a few theories that sleeping can do for us:

☀Sleep helps us to process and store memories, there are brain scans of people sleeping and it shows how our brains move pieces of information from short-term memory into the long-term memory.

☀Also when we are asleep our bodies are repairing and restoring muscles and tissues as well as synthesising hormones which is vital for our bodies to function properly.

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What goes on whilst we sleep?

Sleep occurs in ninety minute cycles split into four parts. The first part is where we feel drowsy and we go into a light sleep. This is often called 'true sleep' and makes up fifty percent of a night's sleep. The body starts slowing down, our blood pressure drops and our breathing then slows down.

The next stage we go into is a slow wave sleep which is then followed by the 'deep sleep' stage. This is the moment where our body starts repairing and restoring our muscles and tissues, renews skins cells and fights off the bad cells.

The last stage is called the REM stage. At this stage our heart rate and blood pressure rise and our limbs become paralysed as we move into a dream state. It's at this stage when our memories are processed and moved from short-term to our long-term memory.

Learning about our bodies and minds as we sleep is very interesting as we have no idea what goes on to ourselves and it also shows just how important it is for us to sleep and get enough sleep.

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What happens if we don't get enough sleep?

There are many studies that show being sleep deprived can affect our health, mental well-being and our productivity.

People who suffer with insomnia usually suffer from greater levels of depression and anxiety than those who sleep normally. As well as lack of sleep affected our mental well-being it can also affect many physical risks. An example of this is that one in five traffic accidents in the UK are caused by fatigue.

However it's not always easy to know if you are getting enough sleep. Here are some indicators that you may get if you are sleep deprived:

🌛Having poor concentration and lacking focus.

🌛Putting on weight and craving more sugary things.

🌛Getting colds, bugs or coughs more frequently.

🌛Always hitting the snooze button on your alarm when you wake up.

These often show that you might need to work on your sleeping pattern a little more.

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Ways to improve sleep?

There's multiple things you can do to sleep better. You can have a relaxing bath before going to bed, using calming sprays or creams that you can put on or spray onto your pillow when you're about to go to sleep, change your bed sheets so you are sleeping in a freshly made bed, put on some sounds that help you go to sleep (like rainy mood), wear comfortable pyjamas, try not to eat too late at night, try not to watch TV or play games just before you go to sleep, and also ban technology from the bedroom.

There's been studies done on people who bring technology to the bedroom and it is now known that this can affect how you sleep.

→Our bodies are programmed to respond to light levels and as it becomes night outside our bodies naturally start producing melatonin which makes us drowsy and ready to sleep. However the lights that emit from laptops/mobile phones etc can suppress the production of melatonin which can then lead to us feeling more awake and harder to get to sleep. It is also known that if you have your phone on your bedside table and you get a notification the screen lights up your body responds to the light and starts to bring you out of sleep.

→This impacts our sleep cycles but it also impacts our health too. Melatonin has a key role to play in our body and if there is less of it, it has been shown to increase risk of heart disease, stroke, type two diabetes, depression and dementia as well as many more.

It's always a good idea to keep your tech out of the bedroom, which is why many suggest it is better to have an old fashioned alarm clock rather than your phone as an alarm that way your phone isn't in your room. However you can always have your phone in the room with you but make sure you turn it over so you can't see the screen or any lights flash up and disturb your sleep.

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Why not set up a night time routine?

Having a regular bedtime routine can really help with giving you the sleep you need! Here is a little list of things that you should consider doing every night:

🌛Turn down your lights. If it's getting late and it's almost time to go to sleep why not turn down your lights so the room isn't as bright and your body can start producing melatonin.

🌛Turn of your tech. If you know you have about half hour before you usually go to bed why don't you turn it all off, maybe put away the dishes you used for dinner or get into bed with a book.

🌛Have a bath. As you know baths are known to relax you and the hot water can really help with relaxing your muscles, If you don't have a bath then a shower could also be a good thing.

🌛Lighting some candles. It is well known that candles and their scents can help to relax you, you could light a few candles and place them on your bedside table whilst you're reading your book.

🌛Buying luxurious and soft pyjama's to help you feel more cosy and relaxed.

🌛Play some relaxing music, like I mentioned above rainy mood is a very good one for this.

🌛Spraying calming spray onto your pillow, like lavender for example.

I hope you have enjoyed my blog post on sleep and why it is so important! Thank you for reading, enjoy your Sunday.